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There is serious discussion today over how the Holy Spirit influences
and strengthens the child of God. It is not a question of whether
the Spirit of God works in the Christian; it is a question of
how he does it.
God created Satan. God and Satan are not equal. Satan is not as
powerful as God is. Does God limit his powers today so as to give
man an equal choice between right and wrong? Does God, through
the Holy Spirit, strengthen his children in a supernatural way?
Does he use a direct influence or does he indirectly strengthen
the Christian through the Word?
How Does Satan Influence the Christian?
If we can understand how Satan influences the child of God, it
might shed some light on how God influences his children. If the
Holy Spirit personally and directly influences the child of God,
as some teach, then does it follow, for Satan to have an equal
field of activity, that he, too, have direct access to man's spirit?
The Scriptures teach that man has free will and is often called
upon to make decisions. The human will is critical in the relationship
between God and man:
- And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you
this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers
served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of
the Amorites (Joshua 24:15).
- I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, thee
I have see before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deut. 30:19).
- Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye
have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me
(John 5:39).
- And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth,
lee him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come: he that
will, let him take the water of life freely (Rev 22:17).
The free will of the human creature is exercised in the doing
of both good and evil. Humans do wrong because they want to do
wrong. They do right for the same reason. "As a man thinks
in his heart so is he." The man is responsible for what he
thinks in his heart.
Words instructed and also deceived Eve. God expressed his will
in words. Satan also used words to beguile the woman and lead
her into sin.
Now the serpent ... said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said
unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the
garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of
the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall
ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman
(Gen. 3:14).
The word said is used 5 times in this account of how the
first pair was taught and how they were tempted. That is fair.
If God uses words to direct the steps of his creature, then the
devil uses words to attempt to cross him up. If Satan is limited
to words to entice man, but God employs an indescribable surge
of unseen and supernatural power to protect man, then how is it
that man ever sins? If God uses a direct influence to strengthen
his child on earth and to make him productive in the fruit of
the Spirit, then how is it that the saved person ever fails? Yet
if the seine claims to be free from all sin. he deceives
him self and truth is not in him. A claim of sinless perfection
makes God a liar (1 John 1:810).
God is fair - even with the devil. In the first century the miraculous
power of God came against the best demons could offer. God won.
The devil lost. God named the terms of surrender and restricted,
bound, chained the evil one (Eph. 4:8; Rev. 20:13). Because
the red dragon is restricted, it does not follow that he has no
power. He does have power, but he is limited just as a wild animal
might be limited by a chain but still has an area of activity.
The devil is at work and uses all his cunning to destroy us, but
he is not allowed any more to use direct and immediate influence
to undermine faith. God accommodates that and limits himself to
explainable means - the revealed Word - to lead, guide, direct,
strengthen, and benefit the redeemed.
Paul tells us plainly that the children of God are "strengthened
with power through his spirit in the inward man" (Eph. 3:16).
How does he do this for us? If he does by means of his Word, which
is the sword of the Spirit, then man can resist it and follow
instead the teaching of the prince of this world. If God does
by a direct touch of his finger on the mortal heart, then man
should never sin and always be faithful. To test the human mind
the choice between right and wrong must be equal. It may not be
overbalanced on one side or the other. Otherwise the contest is
not even. There is no parallelism. The field is not level.
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